Open AccessEarthquake‐Tide Correlation
Author(s) -
Shlien Seymour
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1972.tb06108.x
Subject(s) - geology , tectonics , seismology , epicenter , tidal force , earthquake prediction , foreshock , aftershock , physics , astronomy
Summary The detection of moonquakes that occur when the Moon is at perigee has prompted a search for tidal effects on earthquake occurrences. An attempt was made to correlate earthquakes listed in the CGS‐NOA epicentre determinations with the tidal phase of semidiurnal tides. This study was confined to several seismic regions representative of tectonic and non‐tectonic regions. An extended form of Schuster's test was used to decide whether significant correlations existed. Though some tidal influences could be accepted at a 5 per cent significance level, the effect was not consistent or stable with time. Earthquakes, if they are affected by tides, show a slight tendency to occur at times when the tidal stress is changing most rapidly. Insufficient data was available to compare tectonic to non‐tectonic areas. An analysis of the Japanese aftershock sequence which began 1969 August 11 was found to have no significant tidal correlation.